Italian Navy Rescues Over 1,000 Migrants by Lampedusa

A handout photograph provided by the Italian Navy shows a boat with 200 migrants, off the coast of Lampedusa. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The Italiannavy has rescued 1,123 migrants on inflatable boats in the Mediterranean Sea over the past 24 hours.

The migrants were retrieved from 8 boats, approximately 220km south of the Lampedusa island, the BBC reports. Another 7 migrants are reported to have drowned trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in North Africa.

In October, over 300 migrants died when an overcrowded boat capsized near Lampedusa.

As many as 2,000 migrants have landed in Italy's shores in January, more than 10 times the number in January, 2013.

According to the Italian authorities, 42,925 people have arrived by sea in 2013, as the refugee problem in the country intensifies. The EU has been urged on a number of occasions to help balance the situation.

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